


when the tide comes in

by kuro49



Category: Justice League (2017), Man of Steel (2013), Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 12:45:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8286316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/pseuds/kuro49
Summary: In the wake of Metropolis’ destruction from the sky, the monsters from the sea start coming.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [carpelucem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/carpelucem/gifts).



> this is the fic that spawned from carpelucem's prompt on tumblr for an [aquaman/pr crossover](http://setsailslash.tumblr.com/post/147977129781/insert-prompt-here-zods-machine-caused-the-rift) (that is more or less the beginning and the end of this fic), in which Zod's machine caused the rift in the Breach.
> 
> this is just such a strange thing?? also, i am not entirely sure if the justice league tag is really justifiable but there is a lot more arthur curry than if i just left it alone with the man of steel tag.

 

 

The first tremor is detected long before Trespasser makes land in San Francisco.

But how do you convince the world in the wake of Metropolis’ destruction that this is only the start of the end of it all?

 

 

“No press.”

He is greeted, and really that much is a surprise already.

In the black-framed glasses and the ill-fitting suit, Clark Kent tends to blend in. But this time, he gets stopped at the door and that alone keeps him rooted in place. Maybe the Daily Planet lanyard around his neck really doesn’t open as many doors for him as Lois claims.

The guard has a hand on him.

There is also another hand that touches the cuff of the militant guard and it is not a warning if there is no threat.

“He’s with me.”

The guard drops his hand, tips his head in the most minor of nods to say: “Mr. Wayne.”

This is not the first time Clark Kent hears this name.

At his rushed and stumble of a thanks, the man that leads him in glances at the ID still hanging around his neck long enough to get him to slip it into his pocket and out of sight. The benefit continues, he does not see him again.

 

 

Helplessness is not so much a foreign concept.

Even Superman cannot save everyone.

 

Yet, this is hardly how it ends either when the world doesn’t go away with Zod. (The world has gone on for this long without Superman, it can make due with just another boy from Smallville when the Kaiju alarms begin wailing through the cities.)

Even if it feels like some sort of last ditch effort, the Jaeger Program finds its start.

 

 

“Marshal.”

Stacker Pentecost turns.

Hercules Hansen follows.

He is in his dress blues, biting his tongue with the help of the champagne bubbles to keep him from speaking at all. He stands next to Stacks, and really, this is the only thing that is still familiar. Herc doesn’t bother with asking for the name of their mysterious philanthropist when money is money is money.

There is little difference between one rich man from another. All of them would pay any amount if they do not have to step inside his shoes, Herc understands this much.

He turns, he follows, and he introduces himself.

“Ranger Hansen,” the man named Bruce Wayne extends a hand, and the gesture is clear, “thank you for your service.”

Herc plays his part, he shakes his hand with a perfect soldier’s grip and pulls away after a polite second. He takes another sip, he lets his comment fizzle out on the tip of his tongue.

That is all guilt in those words. Like this man should be in his place, like this man has _been_ inside his shoes. That is regret that he cannot take another step.

 

 

Like another nightmare, but worsened by ten then hundred then thousand times fold, when the monsters from the sea start coming, where do you run? (You can run, and you can run but can you really outrun _this_?) Instead of red, every deep gash rushes blue and the blue stains everything in its way, leaving the edge of the ocean crashing against the shores in toxic waves.

Turns out, Kryptonite doesn’t just come in green.

 

 

“Is this your favourite?"

She asks as she stands at the foot of their titans.

With her head tipped back and her lungs filling up with the tang of salt in the air, Diana Prince catches the way the metal gleams in the flood of lights even when the alloy is not smooth or new.

The little girl she joins does not turn to her even when she answers. “It is.”

She has fought her fair share of combat to see the dents for medals of honour. The scratches in the paint of the Jaeger are notches on their belts.

Of the hundreds of years Diana decides to stay, and the thousands more that she hopes to remain, even she feels something akin to reverence when she sees the rust like battle wounds on proud display. The twin cannons rising above the rest.

“This is something special.”

She looks to the little girl next to her and is reminded of Themyscira.

“One day,” the little girl starts and her voice may be small but each word is bitten out with care and conviction, “it will be mine.”

Diana has always liked the truth.

 

 

If the aftermath of Zod’s damage can be quantified as a wreckage, then this might just be divine punishment. Is God’s wrath really entirely out of the question when the world has just witnessed Superman?

This is not a fight.

This is a war, and.

This is how it starts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He is part of the sea. With the water pressing in from all sides, he blinks back and remembers the biting chill of the winter breeze when he stands on shore. Where the ground is solid beneath his feet, the sand grinds into dust beneath his boots. The tide is coming.

They are not a part of this world.

And when they enter this one through his— Arthur Curry has always protected what is rightfully his.

 

There is a rift in what will become the Breach, and there is only one man to witness the kind of energy that lights up the deepest, darkest place on Earth. Man might not be quite the right word to describe him even if he still goes by Arthur Curry. He is in the water, more than ten thousand metres below the surface when the Anteverse tears into our own.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> extra:
> 
> While Herc and Stacks are forced to attend the benefit upstairs to kiss up to some big named donor, Scott Hansen uses the excuse to get drunk with the rest of the techs in a corner of Jaeger Bay far away from where any guests are allowed to wander to. He spots him as soon as he is in the vicinity, he has no idea who that big guy is but he is surrounded by all the techs and Scott wants in.
> 
> He turns to Lucky's head tech and asks just who that is, his beer halfway to his mouth.
> 
> "Arthur Curry," he tells him, admiration shining brighter than the few drinks he's already downed, "y'know early detection? That's _all_ him."
> 
> Scott Hansen raises an eyebrow, more impressed than anything because who hasn't heard about the man that might just be better than any equipment the UN could throw at the mouth of the Breach, who hasn't heard about the man who still goes into the Kaiju Blue infested waters, only without a Jaeger. There are Jaeger lores and myths about the drift but there is also this man right here.
> 
> He saunters over there because well, a legend's gotta meet a legend, right?


End file.
